Souq al-Saqatiyya

A covered souq lane of 150 metres southwest of the Great Mosque, next to Souq al-Attarin, with 52 shops along it. The lane itself goes back to Mamluk and Ottoman times. The reason to write about it now is more recent: this was the first restoration project in Aleppo to be finished from end to end after the war, and it reopened in July 2019.

How the work was done

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture chose al-Saqatiyya as the pilot for its programme to repair the historic central souq of Aleppo. Work began at the end of 2018, took eight months, and ended in July 2019. The bill came to 400 thousand dollars. It was run together with UNESCO, the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, the governorate and the Aleppo City Council. In November 2020 al-Saqatiyya received the ICCROM-Sharjah award for good practice in the conservation of Islamic heritage, and in the same year the project was widened, despite the pandemic, to take in the connecting streets.

Why it was chosen as the pilot

The lane is short, clearly bounded and heavily used: 150 metres and 52 shops, a size that can be finished in under a year. A pilot is not only about repairing one souq — where the stone comes from, at what stage the traders return, in what order the permits are granted, all of it was tried together here for the first time. The measure for the rest of the souq came out of this lane.

What to see

A single roofed street under stone vaults. Shop fronts run along both sides, light holes pierce the crown of the vault, and in summer the lane is noticeably cooler than the open streets around it. The restoration set out to hold the old fabric up rather than imitate it, so new stone and old stone read side by side; look at the ceiling and you can see where the work went in.

What most people miss

Walk out of the lane and into Souq al-Attarin. The two adjoin, and two steps take you from a repaired vault to one whose turn has not come. That comparison tells you where the Aleppo souq stands today better than any single view.